by Carol Larsson

Created on: June 29, 2009   Last Updated: July 03, 2009

What is the currency of Portugal? It is now the Euro.

Portugal is one of the 16 member states of the European Union that uses the Euro. There are also 11 European Union member states that do not use the single European currency.

Portugal has been a member of the European Union since 1986, and it joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992 as part of its preparation to join the Euro. Portugal did not find this easy and had to devalue its currency twice to keep within the strict rules of the Exchange Rate Mechanism.

The first Euro coins and notes were introduced in Portugal in January 2002 at a rate of 1 Euro = 200 Escudos. The Portuguese Escudo was withdrawn from circulation in February 2002. The Escudo was not an ancient currency unlike some others that had been replaced by the Euro, as it was only introduced in 1910 when Portugal ceased to be a monarchy and became a republic.

There are now seven denominations of Bank notes 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 Euros. They are legal tender throughout the Euro area.

The front of the notes all show gateways and windows which are supposed to symbolize the European spirit of openness and co-operation. The back of the notes depict bridges, which symbolize communication between the people of Europe and between Europe and the rest of the world.

All the notes include the name of the currency in both Latin and Greek alphabets , the initials of the European Central Bank in five linguistic variants they are BCE, ECB, EZB, EKT, and EKP which in 2002 covered the eleven official languages of the European union and a map of Europe.

There are eight different denominations of coins 2 euro, 1euro, 50 cent, 20 cent, 10cent, 5 cent, 2 cent, 1 cent. The coins interestingly are not exactly the same throughout the Euro zone although they can still be used everywhere; they have a common side and a nation side. The common sides of the coins were designed by Luc Luycx of the Royal Belgium Mint, and are on all the coins.

The national side of the coin shows different designs depending on which country issued them. Portugal had a national competition to decide on the designs for the national side of the coins. This was won by the designer Vtor Manuel Fernandes dos Santos. The three different designs chosen include the symbols and seals from the first king of Portugal, Dom Alfonso Henriques that date from the 12th century.

By 2005, most of the people in Portugal were finding the new currency easy to use and if you are traveling around Europe, it makes it so much easier with out constantly changing currencies.

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